University of Oregon
5-3
Mississippi
6-2
Rebels Edge UO, 79-73
12/08/14 | Men's Basketball
EUGENE, Ore. – Ole Miss used an offensive burst late in the first half to propel themselves to the win Sunday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena over the UO men's basketball team, 79-73. The Rebels closed the half on a 24-9 run and never trailed for the rest of the game.
How It Happened: The Ducks (5-3) sprinted out to a 24-23 lead with 8:57 remaining in the first half, and the game looked as if it was on a similar course as last year's 115-105 overtime game that saw the Ducks escape Oxford, Miss., with the win. Ole Miss (6-2) scored the next 10 points and eventually built a 47-33 lead going into halftime. The Rebels' Stefan Moody hit four threes in the first half and led the visitors with 14 points after 20 minutes of play.
Oregon battled in the second half and cut the Ole Miss lead to single digits with 6:20 left in the game, 63-54. Young converted two free throws with 1:20 left in the game to make the lead just seven (71-64), but Moody responded with a layup on the other end for two of his team-high 22 points to restore the nine-point buffer.
Ole Miss only went 8-of-13 from the line in the second half, but the Ducks were unable to force the turnovers down the stretch in the last minute that may have completed the comeback.
Who Stood Out: Dillon Brooks reached double figures for the eighth-straight game and finished with a season-high 21 points. Joseph Young struggled from three-point land (2-of-10), but still managed to score 17 points and dish out three assists. Elgin Cook scored 15 and Ahmaad Rorie tied his season high with 10 points.
What It Means: The loss Sunday afternoon is just the second non-conference home loss for the Ducks while playing in the friendly confines of Matthew Knight Arena. Their only other loss at MKA was against Virginia on Dec. 18, 2011 (67-54).
UO was out-rebounded for just the second time this year (46-39) and the Rebels used their depth to produce a 35-5 advantage in bench points.
Quotable: “We got beat in almost all phases of the game. Second-chance points were big. We got a lot of offensive rebounds; we just didn't finish a lot of them. We only had eight turnovers, but it turned into 15 points. We dug ourselves a big hole in the first half and we never recovered.” – UO coach Dana Altman
“I feel like we can fix it. At practice tomorrow we just have to all come and buy into what we have to do. If we do that we can turn it around real quick.” – Rorie
Odds and Ends: Ole Miss mixed up their defenses throughout the game, but the Rebels stayed primarily in a 2-3 zone and forced the Ducks into their second-worst three-point shooting performance of the season (25.8 percent on 8-of-31). UO shot just 37.5 percent from the field, but the Rebels weren't much better at 41.5 percent.
Moody went 4-of-4 on three-pointers in the first half. He entered the game just 7-of-32 (21.9 percent) from distance.
The Ducks are now 33-2 in non-conference games at MKA. Before losing today, Oregon had won 28 non-conference games in a row at MKA.
Next Up: Oregon will play No. 24 Illinois in Chicago on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 4 p.m. (PT). The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
